Reinstatement pitch planned for Jefferson

Attorney to make presentation on Jefferson’s behalf

The attorney of LSU senior quarterback Jordan Jefferson said Monday he is putting together a presentation to LSU Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva and head football coach Les Miles to have Jefferson reinstated to the team.

Jefferson and sophomore linebacker Josh Johns, both 21, were suspended from the team indefinitely after being arrested Friday. Both men bonded out of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on second-degree battery counts for their alleged involvement in a bar fight Aug. 19.

The attorneys of Jefferson and Johns both said Monday that they believe their clients are innocent and should not have been arrested.

Unglesby said Jefferson “was not fighting with anyone” outside Shady’s bar on 623 E. Boyd Drive. The players went to the bar the night of Aug. 18 after being in their apartments for a 10:30 p.m. curfew.

“I think there was a huge mistake made to arrest him,” Unglesby said.

Johns’ attorney, Tommy Damico, said Monday he is more worried about the case itself than getting Johns reinstated to the team.

Both Damico and Unglesby said Monday they have spoken to witnesses who have given accounts about the incident that differ from what is detailed in a Baton Rouge police incident report released Thursday.

In that report, Andrew Lowery, 21, tells police that Jefferson and Johns were among a group of people who attacked him.

However, Damico said he has spoken with employees at Shady’s bar who have told him otherwise.

“I’m still at a loss to know why (police) believe they had enough probable cause to arrest Josh,” Damico said.

Police have declined to comment on this case after Jefferson and Johns were arrested Friday.

Michael P. Bienvenu, the attorney representing Lowery and three other men sent to a hospital because of the fight, said Monday he has interviewed witnesses that “all say the same thing.”

Bienvenu would not elaborate on what those witnesses told him.

“I think the witness statements are very strong in this case,” Bienvenu said. “They’ve all described the incident in the same way.”

The fight started when a man in a truck blew the horn to try to clear a crowd in the bar’s parking lot, police have said.

The situation escalated to a fight and four men, none of whom are members of the LSU football team, were treated at a hospital for minor injuries, police have said.

Lowery is the only one of those four men who have been identified. He said in the police report that he was attacked while trying to help a man in the truck.

Of those injured, one man had three fractured vertebrae, and Lowery was knocked unconscious, police have said.

Bienvenu said Monday that his clients are out of the hospital. He said the man with three cracked vertebrae is “progressively getting better.”

“He’s up and walking around and just doing things on a limited basis,” Bienvenu said.

Bienvenu said at this point, “it’s in the hands of the Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office.”